Plaid and Fore! and Murder

by Patti Larsen

  He was looking down, probably at his phone. The jerk. He terrified me for no reason whatsoever and he was in huge troub—

  I was already jerking the door open when I realized something wasn’t right. In fact, things were very, very wrong. Because the instant I released the door latch, Crew began to lean sideways toward me, the dead weight—oh, terrible choice of words under the circumstances—hitting me as I stood there in the way, mouth gaping, heart in my throat, while his body pushed mine back and he tumbled out onto the ground.

  A wail of despair rose from the core of my stomach, climbing my chest, into my lungs, my throat, but I couldn’t release it, couldn’t breathe or speak or move, standing there with both hands clutching at my heart while he collapsed at my feet.

  A moment before something hard and fast tackled me, my head striking the edge of the truck’s frame, and darkness swallowed me whole.

  ***

  Chapter Thirty One

  You know my least favorite way to wake up? Groggy, headache, in the dark, cold and wondering what happened. I know I groaned out loud because the sound grated on my ears, making the throbbing in my head worse. The only thing I could think of was the fear I had another concussion. Memories of the one I’d suffered at the hands of Carter Melnick still lingered and gave me shudders that weren’t helping any.

  I tried to sit up, and realized I couldn’t, that wherever I was didn’t allow me that kind of motion. In fact, now that I was more awake and aware, I could feel the rumble of the box I was in, the bounce and hum, the confined feel of the air around me and, when I was able to put two and two together without throwing up from concentrating with a headache this intense, I made the connection.

  I was in the trunk of a moving car.

  No wonder my legs felt cramped, my shoulder biting with pain when I bounced on whatever it was the thin carpet of the trunk couldn’t completely protect me from. I rolled sideways and into something soft but firm, catching a familiar scent and panicking, mouth dry around the rag stuffed deeply between my teeth, struggling against what felt like sticky tape holding my hands and feet together, while the silent, still body of the man I loved lay next to me.

  Immobile. Cold. Quiet.

  No, please. Not Crew. Not now.

  I fought tears and lost, sobbing into the gag, leaning my forehead against whatever part of him was next to me, realizing it was his back from the curve of his shoulder blade. I pressed my ear into his shirt, forced myself into calm, took a deep breath. Held it.

  Listened.

  And sobbed again at the slow, steady thump-thump-thump that was the familiar beating of his huge, brave heart.

  So not dead. Good. If he’d died I’ve had brought his ass back to life and killed him for putting me through this.

  That helped, the snarkiness in my head, but only a little and, by the time I felt the car slow and turn, rolling Crew’s heavy body into mine, I had done nothing to try to free myself further. Instead, it wasn’t until the car stopped and the engine died I started to struggle against my bonds, just barely freeing one hand from the tape when the trunk lid popped and a face I knew I’d see but hoped wouldn’t be until my fiancé arrested him appeared over me.

  “Miss Fleming,” Leo said, sounding sad, disappointed almost. “I’m sorry you got yourself tied up in all this.”

  He was sorry, was he? My temper flared and I told him just how sorry he was going to be when this was all over and I’d kicked his butt from one end of the mountain to the other, all the while the gag kept him from making out a single word.

  Leo leaned into the trunk and grasped Crew’s arms, dragging the sheriff out and onto the ground with a solid thunk. He disappeared, tugging the inert form of my fiancé out of sight while I fought to free my other hand, kicking at the inside of the trunk to try to do the same with my feet.

  Leo appeared again a moment later, holding a rock in one hand, grim, determined and a little scared. Well, we were both scared, weren’t we?

  “Please,” he said. “Don’t make me shut you up.”

  I fell still, keeping my hands behind me, let him lift me out of the car and carry me to where he’d dumped Crew. He’d left his headlights on, the sedan’s low beams shining on the side of Crew’s pickup, the Reading Sheriff’s Department logo catching the light as the reflective decal was meant to.

  He set me on the ground next to Crew and I finally got a good look at my love, the trail of blood running down his face from a head wound that looked suspiciously like the one that killed Jack Nethersole. The dark streak had clotted in a pool in one of Crew’s eye sockets, obscuring half of his face and down his jaw, a black stain on the collar and shoulder of his uniform shirt. He looked pale, deathly, though I’d heard his heartbeat, so I held onto the fact he yet lived.

  For now. Surely Leo had plans to make sure that didn’t last much longer.

  My jaw worked as Leo went to Crew’s truck, pulling open the driver’s door and, as he turned back, I managed to spit out the gag keeping me from being heard. Because no way was I going to my death without being heard.

  “Please,” I said. “Leo, you don’t have to do this.”

  He hefted Crew into his arms and tugged him toward the bed of the pickup. Where did he get that red flannel jacket? And why open the driver’s door? As he heaved my fiancé into the back of his truck, Leo answered.

  “I wish I didn’t,” he said. “But your sheriff here figured out too many things and asked far too many questions. I knew it was only a matter of time before he arrested me. So I did what I had to.” His eyes, dull and empty, met mine. “I’m really sorry about this.”

  I was tired of hearing how sorry he was and wriggled around to give him a piece of my mind. Noted the edge of the cliff near the truck’s front tires, the whistle of wind, that we weren’t on the White Lodge side any longer, but the other side of Cutter Lake, civilization shining across the way. The empty expanse that was Ember Mountain, directly across from the towering expanse of Black Mountain, with its unwelcoming switchbacks and handful of hunting cabins had little traffic, and less going for it, aside from the lookouts and the views. Something tourists didn’t gravitate to at night.

  The perfect scene for a murder. Or two.

  “How did you get the truck up here?” It was a hike from the other side of the lake. Did he have an accomplice?

  Leo’s answer sounded muffled as he bent over Crew. “Took a risk, locked you two in my trunk.” He grunted again. Was he having trouble with my fiancé? I hoped he put his back out. “Drove up here, hitched a ride with a logger. Worked out better than I planned.” He turned to me, plucked at the front of the flannel jacket. “Your sheriff had this in his truck, easy enough disguise.” He didn’t sound like it was so easy, though, air of panic in his voice.

  I didn’t want him to panic, not yet.

  “You’re going to try to make it look like an accident.” Though, would anyone believe it? We had no reason to be up here, did we? Still, it was a long drop, and fairly sheer if I recalled correctly. Hey, did cars explode on impact in real life like they did in the movies? If so, it would look like an accident because any evidence would burn up, right?

  Yeah, my brain went there. Because I had that kind of brain.

  “I know why you killed Jack.” I had to get Leo talking. He was already hopping out of the truck, Crew’s head dangling out of the back of the bed, the caddy crouching to look at me, his eyes catching the barest light from the headlights of his car. “I understand, Leo. I really do.”

  “Do you?” He sounded so sad. “I don’t even know if I do, to be honest.” He ran one hand over his face, shaking, broken.

  “It wasn’t because he was cheating,” I said.

  Leo shook his head then. “No, whatever, so what.” He shrugged. “Jack cheated his whole life. Didn’t change anything.”

  “But something did change everything,” I said as softly and full of compassion as I could. “Right?”

  He swallowed, hands clasping in front of
him. “He had so many girlfriends.” How could he sound so distraught while hovering over me, ready to kill me and the man I loved? “Why couldn’t I just have her?”

  “Tori.” I nodded, shifting a bit more, hands fully free and twisting my ankles, trying to be subtle about it, in an attempt to break the tape. Dad taught me how years ago. Leo couldn’t have known that, must have picked up the idea from TV. But the right kind of torque and pressure and tape parted.

  I just needed time to make it happen.

  “I didn’t mean to fall in love with her.” Leo hung his head, breathing heavily. Had he worn himself out manhandling Crew? “But I did. From the moment I met her. And Jack knew.” He bit his lower lip, anger surfacing. “Taunted me about it. Whatever. What else was new? I wasn’t going to ask him to break up with her so I could pursue her or anything.”

  Of course he wasn’t. For a very specific reason. But I needed to prod him further before I revealed I knew why he chose to be subordinate to someone who wasn’t worthy of him.

  Turned out that phrase was catching. “He wasn’t worthy of her.” There was the anger again, brighter, deeper. “He treated her like garbage, like he treated all of his women. And she took it, because she thought he loved her. But he didn’t.” Leo spit suddenly, as if trying to expel some nasty taste. “Jack Nethersole didn’t love anyone.”

  “Leo,” I said, knowing it was time to prod him. “Why did you give in and caddy for Jack when you were the better player?”

  He flinched, looked away and I knew I was on the edge of losing him. One more second. One more.

  He gave me that second when he answered. “You already know why, don’t you, Miss Fleming?” When Leo turned back to me, his eyes were dead again.

  “I do,” I said. “I went looking at your past, at the connection between the two of you. You said you were like brothers, but you hesitated. Because you kind of were. Foster brothers, right?”

  Leo nodded. “I owed him,” he said. “He protected me in the system. Kept me safe. We found golf together one summer, then Gavin Maloney’s school, and it saved us both. But he was the one who got us out, figured out how to cheat his way into the tour. And I swore to him if he made it before me, I’d have his back. Forever.”

  “But you let Tori get between you.” I felt the tape at my feet part just as Leo’s anger rose in a wave of fury that startled me.

  He practically pounced on me, grabbing me and dragging me half upright. “He could do whatever he wanted to me,” he cried out. “I deserved it.” He sounded broken. “Without Jack I wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t have survived. But she deserved better.” Leo was shaking, clearly on the edge emotionally, and I had no idea if I had done a good thing or not, triggering him like this. All I could think about was the edge of the mountain and Crew in the pickup bed while Leo snarled in my face. “He promised me that night. That he’d stop hurting her. But he lied to me, just like he always lied to get what he wanted.” Leo’s lips contorted. “I caught him sneaking out that night and followed him. Easy enough to figure out where he was heading. I found him with one of the waitresses, stinking like Tori’s perfume.” He choked on that. “He had her all over him and he still wanted more.” Leo shook his head. “I caught them at it, waited until she left. When I confronted him he laughed at me. Told me to shut up, to be the weak loser I’d always been.” His jaw tightened, chest collapsing inward as he internalized those words. “Something snapped inside me. I made sure Jack never hurt her again.”

  Confession made, Leo sagged somewhat, crying suddenly.

  “I killed my best friend, the man who always had my back, over a woman,” he said. “A woman I found out didn’t love him anyway, who only wanted him for his money and will never, ever want me. Told me as much.” He laughed then, bitter, desperate. “What does that make me?”

  I didn’t have an answer and he knew it. And in that instant I saw my death looming yet again at the very same moment Leo’s hands tensed to drag me to the truck.

  The same moment Crew’s blue eyes opened and met mine.

  ***

  Chapter Thirty Two

  If Leo hadn’t started talking again I may have given away Crew’s return to consciousness in the surge of relief that almost made me sob. Good thing I was in such a stricken state to begin with, already worked up, because I was able to hide my instantaneous joy and overwhelm at the sight of my fiancé’s focus and attention that told me he wasn’t just awake now, but had been for some time, likely waiting for his own chance to act.

  “It doesn’t matter now,” Leo was saying and I fought to keep my attention on him and forget that Crew had a plan—surely he had a plan—better than mine. Wait, did I have a plan outside of the fact my hands and feet were free? Nope. Winging it. “None of it does. Your sheriff found out about my clubs.”

  “Clubs?” Please, keep talking and not dragging me into the cab of the truck. I needed space, wanted to act, but knew I had to wait for Crew. We’d only get one shot at this.

  “He found a picture, from the sponsor site,” he said. “The clubs I won as part of the deal I turned down. They were the same ones Tyler Hendy uses. I nicked his six iron and replaced mine with his.”

  “So you planned this,” I said, suddenly wishing I could learn to shut up. “The club went missing before Jack’s death.” Wow. He knew Tyler was the perfect fall guy and had Jack’s death all worked out, hadn’t he?

  Leo’s face tightened and I knew then any empathy I’d been feeling for him was as misplaced as what I’d originally felt for Tori. Wow, I really was a terrible judge of character. And he was as bad as Jack Nethersole. Worse. “I’m done talking.”

  “I’m not.” I put all of my pleading into my face, glancing at Crew who closed his eyes quickly when Leo turned to look. “Please, Leo. Why is your love worth more than mine?” He turned back to me, scowling, but clearly conflicted. “That’s my fiancé, the love of my life. Will you really take away our chance to be happy because Jack took yours?”

  “I can still be with her,” Leo said, guttural. “I can still have the life I dreamed of. Jack doesn’t have to get the best of everything.” He swallowed hard, shook his head, guilt creeping over his expression. “I didn’t mean that.”

  “Yes, you did,” I said, as gently as I could. “You’re letting him win all over again. Did he really deserve your loyalty, Leo, or did he have his own reasons for doing what he did?” I hesitated before throwing the last in, knowing it could make or break him. “As does Tori?”

  A tremor ran through him, into me, before he solidified his gaze, jaw set, eyes narrowed. “I know what she wants,” he said. “I’m going to qualify for the tour and win Tori for myself. And nothing will stop me.”

  That was it and I knew it, felt it as he began to turn, lifting me bodily as he prepared to heave me forward and down the length of the truck’s frame. I tensed, ready to fight back, at the exact moment Crew leaped up.

  In a blur of motion, faster than I could ever have expected, Leo released me and spun, my body staggering backward at the loss of support, while the angry caddy hurtled himself toward the truck bed. Crew swayed, one hand on his injury, clearly far less in control than he’d thought, giving Leo time to join him in the back. I was in motion, moving toward them as they grappled with each other, Leo sweeping one leg out to take Crew’s at the knees, the two falling heavily to the frame, the truck bouncing with the impact.

  And, to my horror, starting it rolling slowly toward the edge.

  I had two choices, in that moment, and only two, because the third was never an option. I could race for the fighting pair and try to help Crew. Or I could throw myself behind the wheel and stop the truck from plunging down the side of the mountain.

  Standing there and doing nothing? Never even crossed my mind.

  I found myself in the cab, slamming hard on the brakes, before I knew I’d made a choice. A quick glance in the rearview mirror showed me Crew had the upper hand and was tossing the slumped and unconscious Leo over
the side, leaping out himself. I turned to the door I’d closed behind me, at the same instant I realized the brakes weren’t engaging, the slow roll picking up a bit of speed, the handle missing from the inside.

  Leo thought of everything.

  “Fee!” I heard Crew scream my name, gasped a deep, terrified breath, hands clasping the steering wheel while my foot slammed into the pedal over and over again, doing nothing as the truck, with enough momentum built up to finish the trip, tipped over the edge.

  The last thing I saw as the nose dipped was Crew leaping for the driver’s door, panic on his handsome face—

  I’ve always been a pretty lucky person, despite my near-death brushes in the last three years. Sure, I managed to make my way into dangerous positions, but typically I came out of them no worse for wear.

  This time? I knew there was nothing that could save me and, weeping not for me but for the life I almost had with the man I finally found and gave my heart to, I squared myself for the fall, hands over my eyes so I didn’t have to watch my death hurtle toward me.

  When the truck jerked to a halt, groaning, something scraping under the frame, I squeaked out a cry of protest. Wait, what happened? My hands scrabbled for the steering wheel all over again, body leaning forward, the sharp angle of the vehicle almost pressing me into the dash. I stared down into the darkness while Crew pounded on the door next to me, shouting my name over and over again.

  I looked at him through the glass, knowing I was still crying, as the truck creaked, groaned, protested around me. It must have caught on the lip of the cliff, or some outcropping but it wouldn’t hold forever. Panic finally won, motivating in its passion, and I spun sideways, knowing the movement could be my undoing but pounding on the inside of the door anyway with all my strength.

  I’d never seen Crew so desperate, watched his face compress into a determined scowl, hands on the outer handle, jaw so tight I’m sure he cracked a molar, one foot on the door, the other on the frame as he heaved back with all his might. Something gave way with a squeal of fury, the door flying open, even as the truck moaned and sighed its inability to hang on much longer. Crew flew backward, staggering to his feet again, one big hand reaching in for me and I took it, let him pull me with so much force out the door and up over the edge of the cliff, shoving off against the truck with both legs, all of my strength was given over to escape.